My research program explores the development of communication and language. Within
this broad area, my current research focuses on the role of the face in the perception
of speech. I use a lifespan approach to examine the development of audiovisual speech
perception in typically developing children and adults. Recently, I have begun extending
my basic research on typical individuals to assess individual differences in audiovisual
speech perception in special populations, including children with autism spectrum
disorders, poor readers and stutterers. My work makes use of multiple methodologies,
including eye-tracking, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and event related
potentials (ERP) to assess key factors that underlie perception of seen and heard
speech and their spatial and temporal signatures.

Irwin, J.& Brancazio, L. (2015).The development of patterns of gaze to a speaking face.
Published in proceedings from the first joint conference on facial analysis, animation
and auditory-visual speech processing (FAAVSP), Vienna, Austria.

Irwin, J. (June, 2016). Seeing to hear: Audiovisual speech perception as a tool for understanding
special populations. Invited symposium 40 Years of the McGurk-MacDonald Effect. The
17th International Multisensory Research Forum, Suzhou, China.

Irwin, J. (March, 2016). Audiovisual speech perception in children with autism spectrum
disorder. Invited Symposium: A Look at the Current Research in Autism: Imitation,
Speech Perception and Intervention. Eastern Psychological Association Annual Meeting,
New York, New York.

Irwin, J.& Brancazio, L. (2015).The development of patterns of gaze to a speaking face.
Presented at the first joint conference on facial analysis, animation and auditory-visual
speech processing (FAAVSP), Vienna, Austria.

Irwin, J.R. (March 2013). Audiovisual speech perception: Lessons from special populations
and neurobiological markers.Invited talk, New York University Department of Speech
and Hearing, New York, New York.

Irwin, J.R. (July 2011). What eye-tracking reveals about speech and language in children with
autism. Invited Symposium presented at the International Conference of the Association
of Child Language (IASCL), Montreal, Canada.

Pending: Investigator, “Neurocognitive development of language and literacy in high risk environments:
A cross-cultural perspective”. National Science Foundation Science of Learning Collaborative Network.

2014-2017 Principal Investigator, “Neurobiological Signatures of Perception and Imitation
in Children with ASD”. AREA Award, National Institutes of Health, Division of Deafness
and Communication Disorders (NIDCD). Awarded to Southern Connecticut State University,
subcontracts to Haskins Laboratories and the University of Connecticut. 494,000 total
award.

2011-2014 Principal Investigator, “Neurobiological Correlates of Audiovisual Speech Perception
in Children with ASD”. National Institutes of Health, Division of Deafness and Communication
Disorders (NIDCD). Awarded to Haskins Laboratories. 458,000 total award.

2012-2017 Investigator, “Nature of the Speech Code and Reading“ (Kenneth Pugh, PI), National Institutes of Health, Division of Child and Human Development (NICHD). Awarded to Haskins Laboratories.
9,000,000 total award.

2013-2015Consultant, Children’s Generalization and Adaptation to Unfamiliar Regional Accents Reveal the
Path of Early Word Learning (Catherine Best and Christine Kitamura, Co-PI’s). Australian Research Council (ARC). Awarded to the MARCS Institute, University of Western Sydney.

2012-2014Investigator, A Comparison of Prosodic Speech in Children with Typical Development and Autism
Spectrum Disorders (Lucie Menard, PI). Canadian Insight Award awarded to the Center for Language, Music and Brain, McGill University and the University
of Quebec at Montreal.

Every semester, students can register for Psy 197 (Research Internship) for up to
three credits. Psych 197 is a great opportunity to gain first-hand experience in how
cognitive psychology research is conducted. Students enrolled in Psych 197 are responsible
for running participants in experiments, and get involved in various aspects of the
research process, such as organizing data and files, scheduling and cataloging participants,
and helping with data analysis.

If you are interested in enrolling in Psych 197, please email me during the registration
period or during the add/drop period.

Independent Study/ Undergraduate Honors Thesis / Master's Thesis:If you have an idea for a Research Study that you would like to conduct that involves
language/communication in children or adults, please come see me so we can discuss
how to set up an independent study project.

Off-Campus Research Internships and Other Research Opportunities:Haskins Laboratories and Haskins Laboratories Child Language Studies has many ongoing
projects involving several aspects of speech perception, speech production, and reading,
including skilled reading, reading acquisition, and reading disability. There are
sometimes opportunities for psychology majors to do an internship working with research
teams at Haskins, by registering for Psych 463 (Field Practicum in Psychological Research).